When To Fire Yourself

You are not burned out, exactly. But, you have been feeling for a while you’re in a rut and given the economy, your general workload and the fact that you are trying to have a life outside the office, it has been hard to break out it. There just hasn’t been time to do anything.

You have fantasized about doing something else or maybe nothing at all—at least for a little while.There is only one itsy, bitsy problem. You are making a really nice living.

What should you do?

First of all, let us stress that “nothing” is an option. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a nice living. And if the process of doing so is making you unhappy—but not to the point where you think you have do something else or risk your sanity, then suck up it and keep going along, if you so choose.

But suppose you don’t so choose?

What are your options?

Well, drawing analogies to sports is always dangerous, but let us refer you to three of the greatest athletes who ever lived and see if their careers have something to teach us.

The Jim Brown option. You can debate this one endlessly, but if the running back for the Cleveland Browns wasn’t (in the words of Bum Philips) in a class by himself, it sure wouldn’t take long to call roll. (Many NFL reference sites list Brown as the best player of all time and we won’t disagree.)

Brown quit at the very peak of his career—to become an actor. (The fact that he was a far better football player doesn’t enter into the equation.) He stopped playing at the age of 29 having been in the NFL for nine years and an all-pro selection each one.

The Mickey Mantle option. The hall of fame center fielder for the New York Yankees clearly stayed too long at the fair. Mantle who was a three-time Most Valuable player saw his skills decline dramatically after the 1964 season, but he didn’t retire until the 1968 season was over.

From 1951 through 1964, he averaged 32 home runs a year, driving in 93 runs and hitting .308.

In the last four years of his career those numbers were 20, 53, and .254.

But those last four years were his highest paid.

The Michael Jordan option. This is an interesting one for two reasons.

First, at the height of his NBA career (he was 31) Jordan quit. He decided to become a professional baseball player. (He wasn’t very good at it. He only hit .202 in Double A, striking out about one at bat out in four, while playing (to be kind) a less-than-average outfield.

Not surprisingly, given his performance he returned to basketball a year later. Still he had given baseball a serious shot. He played a full season for the Birmingham Barons.

But his resumed basketball career was surprising as well. He played until age 40, but he could have gone on longer. In his final year, he appeared in all 82 games and averaged 20 points per, which put him among the (low-end of) league leaders.

So, which option do you choose?

As we said at the outset, it is extremely personal choice. If you want to get every possible dollar you can, pick the Mickey Mantle option. There is no doubt he tarnished his reputation a bit. For example, he ended up with a lifetime batting average of .298. He would have retired as a .300 hitter if he quit sooner. But, he was elected to the Hall of Fame as soon as he was eligible and he made more in his last four (mediocre) seasons than he did in his first ten combined—years when he was the league’s most valuable player twice.

Should you quit before you skills even start to decline, a la Jim Brown. Well, this is the choice that everyone always makes—in theory, i.e. before they reach their peak. We have found very few people who have actually implemented it.

For us, the Michael Jordan makes the most sense. (But again, we are just talking about us.)

He took some time off at the peak of his career to see if something else truly had more appeal. (It turned out baseball didn’t.)

He quit before embarrassed himself on the court.

And long before he walked away, he had taken steps to start his second careers (as a mogul. He owns restaurants; clothing companies and part of an NBA team.)